Winter 2016

MO 455/555: Foundations in Positive Organizational Scholarship Session 10 (2/16/16)

Instructor: Jane E. Dutton Facilitator: Betsy Erwin University of Michigan

Teaching Note – Prepared by Aurora Kamimura

University of Michigan

Engaging Positive Change Guest presenters: Fritz Seyferth & Jim Richardson

Communication via Canvas Between Session 10 & 11: • Messages sent separately on 2/15/16:

“Tomorrow, in the second half of class we are fortunate to have Fritz Seyferth here to share his wisdom as a successful consultant and executive coach (see http://fritzfsa.com/). He will need you to read the response from members of an organization that he has worked with and transformed. He asks you to read through the employees' responses and be prepared to address: 1) From the Employee Feedback, what do you see as the main problem? and 2) What might you suggest management do to improve employee morale (and flourishing more generally?” “Here are quick links to the files you'll need to read in prep for Fritz's visit: (1) 16.01 DUTTON MBA CLASS CLIENT INFO from Fritz S docx.docx and (2) AI INTRO from Corporation for Positive Change.docx. You can also find the readings in Modules > Under the heading "Session 11 (2/16) Engaging Positive Change" Videos and materials needed:

• Video – David Cooperrider Speaking about Appreciative Inquiry (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9yCJxtLMnM)

• Video: Dawn, a Hastings employee (link is embedded in slide 13)

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Description and flow of the class:

Slide 1 Slide 2

Slide 1:

• This first slide provides an opening to introduce the day’s topic and/or provide a broad overview as to how the topic fits into the larger scope of the class. We began class by sharing that today’s session is a little bit of a continuation from the last session, as we transitioned into positive change. In addition, engaging positive change also feeds from the Ross case study.

• We had two guests join us for our session, Fritz Seyferth and Jim Richardson. Our instructor taught the first half of the class, and Fritz taught the second half.

• Our instructor introduced both of our guests and a bit of their connection to this class and UM. Fritz is a Michigan person through and through. He played football for Michigan, and worked for many years in Michigan Athletics.

• Jim Richardson was the women’s swimming coach for many years here at Michigan.

• Fritz wanted to understand excellence, therefore he investigated this by studying coaches who win at the highest levels versus coaches that simply win a lot. Jim was one of the coaches he worked with on this study.

Slide 2: Game plan

• This slide introduced the two major topics that would be covered. • The first part of class focused on “what is positive organizational change?” • The second part of class looked at how to “make it real,” putting positive

organizational change into action.

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Slide 3 Slide 4

Slide 3: TRIO Challenge – Answer this question…

• Activity: TRIO challenge – prompt: “Get into groups of three and discuss the following prompt: ‘I know that an organizational change process is positive when…’”

• Debrief: “Can we get some ideas about how you completed the sentence? How would you know if a process is positive?”

• Student responses: o Compassion exists o When they don’t feel threatened o The process is positive when those involved in the process have a voice to

affect the process. o When people are complaining it’s a good thing because they feel

comfortable to be vocal. We should worry when people are quiet. o When people are actively engaging and supporting the change. o When it makes things easier for everyone. Effectiveness is high. o If there’s some kind of vision. o It’s what leads to learning or growth.

• Key concepts: o We can infer that we will get positive outcomes (like effectiveness) when

the process (i.e., compassion exists, not threatened, etc.) is positive. o A healthy organization experiences a full range of emotions (not simply

positive emotions exist). o A process is positive if capabilities of individuals and the organization are

enhanced. o There are multiple ways to think about the process of engaging positive

change. Therefore it is very typical to think about this process and the outcomes in a variety of ways.

Slide 4: The typical way of thinking about organizational change processes

• This slide allowed us to introduce the discussion regarding the ways that organizational change processes are traditionally viewed in the literature.

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• Organizational change tends to focus on upper leadership. Often times there is a top-down process envisioned. That is the dominant story of what organizational change looks like.

Slide 5 Slide 6

Slide 5: What are the downsides to this perspective on making change processes effective?

• Question prompt: “What’s the downside of this perspective of organizational change?”

• Student responses: o Limited possibilities o Suppresses innovation

• Activity: prompt --“Look into this mirror (that I’m showing around). I’m going to ask someone to come up to this mirror and sing into the mirror…in a baby voice. (pause) No I’m not going to make you do that! What was your first reaction when I said that?”

• Student responses: o Scared o My heart sunk o A little nervous o Excited to see someone actually do that, so long as it’s not me.

• This was a brief exercise to get students to “feel” more about change. People like certainty, so when we are working with positive change there will still be some anxiety.

• A primary question to ask is: So what does that mean for the change process? • When we have people that are scared but they can vocalize the reason why they

are scared, asking why they are scared sends a message of care. • This is not to say that the dominant perspective about organizational change is

wrong. It is just that it more often puts people in a more defensive and less empowered position

Slide 6: A POS-take on change (in contrast)

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• In an effort to ensure that all four of the bullet points were shared, we read through them briefly as we turned to this slide. If time permits, this is an opportunity where concrete examples of each can be shared to help students better understand the concepts.

• Key concepts: o Positive change is about unlocking the resources from people within. o It is about inquiry into the “good”. One way to do this is through

appreciative inquiry. • Activity: Prompt --“What kinds of resources are particularly important to change

processes?” • Student responses:

o Knowledge of strengths and exercising the strengths of the team o Capitalizing on the perspectives of new employees. They bring in a new

and fresh perspective. o Your employees and more specifically the employees that are change

agents -- the ones that are well-respected and well-connected in particular. o Passion and energy within individuals and the organization o People’s ability to be flexible. o Humility – in order to ask for help. o Humility and humbleness creates spaces where people can be more

authentic. o Trust which is developed through transparency.

• Key concepts: o Adaptability and flexibility is a resource. This can be an individual

quality, but also can be a group or organizational quality. o Stronger capabilities take the organization into a zone of broader

possibilities.

Slide 7 Slide 8

Slide 7: So what do Golden-Biddle and Mao tell us?

• This slide allowed us to connect the concepts back to scholarship. We focused primarily on Golden-Biddle and Mao for now.

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• We discussed the three different ways in which these scholars talk about positive change: 1) acting with compassion, 2) fostering agency, and 3) sustaining cultural continuity.

• The main question to think about is: “How can you make meaning of the change in a way that can connect it to their experiences will create more positivity?”

• The Ross case study demonstrated the enduring nature of the organization and the sustainability in moving forward.

Slide 8: Let’s listen to David Cooperrider

• This slide moved us into hearing about positive organizational change from the voice of another scholar – Cooperrider.

• Cooperrider is the main thought-leader on appreciative inquiry. He’s an organization development scholar, who looks at organizational change.

o He began his work by asking the group he was studying a different set of questions, and he noted that the way he asked the questions brought out a different sense for the case studies.

o David is literally changing the world. o He is working internally with organizations to create global change. o He helped develop a masters program on positive organizational

development at Case Western. • • Activity: Video – David Cooperrider Speaking about Appreciative Inquiry

prompt—“What nuggets are useful for change when we listen to him?”

Slide 9 Slide 10

Slide 9: Importance of trusting in positive organizational change

• This slide highlights one of the primary resources that is necessary for positive organizational change to be effective – trust.

• Activity: prompt – “Come down and pair up with someone. I want you to chose a leader in the pair, and I want the leader to raise their hand.” Then pass out blindfolds to all the leaders. “Followers are going to lead the leaders. Followers

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are going to very ethically lead them. Now follow me outside for about 7 minutes.”

o Our instructor walked in front of them and asked the pairs to follow her. She walked around and through the lobby and into another classroom.

o Once the students return to the classroom, she instructed them to “stay with your partner. Once you’re inside you can take your blindfold off.”

• Debrief: Prompt for pair-share-- “What I want you to do is…leaders think about one piece of feedback to the follower that they did that helped you trust them. Share this piece of feedback with them.”

Slide 10: Why is trusting so important for positive organizational change?

• Debrief large group: “What would be the implications of this trust that was experienced for what would be important for organizational change?”

• Student responses: o Lindsay was really confident that it was going to be ok. Communicating

the confidence in the change process. o Transparency was helpful. The updates on our location and where we were

going were helpful. o Kevin not only knew where we were, but I also told him about obstacles, I

allowed him to touch the obstacle and we both acknowledged that an obstacle existed.

o Physical support – having her physically hold my hand – paired with the relationship that was built outside of the class really helped.

o Appreciating how important it is to have a person’s trust. • Key concepts:

o Trust comes with a large amount of responsibility. [BREAK]

Slide 11 Slide 12

Slide 11: Let’s get real talk about change: Fritz Seyferth

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o At this point in our session, we turned the attention over to Fritz for his presentation.

Slide 12: What would you do for this company?

• Activity: Prompt: “Now that you’ve done the reading, from the employee feedback, what do you see as the main problem?”

• Student responses: o Disconnect o Lack of respect o Lack of training and mastery o The equipment of the facilities reflects the value of the employees o Lack of clear vision of what the company is trying to do – lack of clear

direction o Everything was run on the end of the month schedule which created an

inconsistent work flow o A theme of waste (i.e., wasted time) o Employees didn’t understand why their work mattered

• Follow up question: “Was anyone surprised to read this?” o He noted that no one in class raised their hands, and he affirmed that the

case they read is not unusual. • Follow up question: “So if you worked at a place like this, or you were a

consultant, what would you suggest for the management to do to improve the morale?”

• Student responses: o Remove the physical barriers o Take a couple leaders from each department and have them join in on

management meetings; maybe the floor could elect the person/leader so they could feel represented

o Do some kind of 360 review of how the managers are viewed o Immediately give the employees a quick win – immediate feedback on

progress o Respond to their immediate needs, like painting the facility, by showing

progress o Implement a method where people can express gratitude – some kind of

appreciation that do not require monetary rewards o Engage the influencers o Create a problem-solving process where feedback on problems can be

given and responded to quickly o Leaders need to take ownership of the problem and what they’ve created.

• Follow up question: “Why do you think it is this way? Why do you think this company operates this way? Why do you think they treat each other this way?”

• Student response: o Efficiency is a priority. o It’s easy in these types of companies to see people as commodities and see

people as dispensable.

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o Past experience in companies similar to this one, they implement from their experience. This is all they know.

o It’s unionized environment so it creates an “us versus them” mentality. o In top-down authoritative perspective, egos get in the way of leading.

• Follow up prompt: “Looking at it from the management perspective, why do you think they think they are doing the right thing?”

• Student responses: o Lack of purpose o Lack of investment

• At this point, Fritz described the background to the company and the change in leadership along with the financial challenges they faced. This background was provided to help students better understand how this company ended up in the current situation.

• He shared that in order to turn the company around, they decided to work on “improving the quality of life”

o In doing so, they closed a division of a product that was not selling and created internal issues.

o They did not lay anyone off in the closing of this department. They found them jobs in other areas of the company.

• Question – prompt: “So of the things that you mentioned (ways to improve morale), what would you actually implement?”

• Student responses: o Now that you’ve shared background on how long many of these

employees have been there and that they’ve lost salary for the past 13 years, I wouldn’t do any of the things that we talked about. I would find a way to “invest” in the employees.

o I would actually probably start on initiatives by having face-to-face interactions and use appreciative inquiry to show value of the employees.

o I would have the managers follow some of these floor leaders and show that they trust their experience and knowledge, by learning from them.

Slide 7 Slide 13

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Slide 7: So what do Golden-Biddle and Mao tell us? • At this point in the session, Fritz returned to Slide 7 and shared more on this case

study. • Our philosophy is “when you are at your best what does that look like?” • The employees just wanted to be proud of the place they worked. When they

asked the interviewees if they had anything else to add that they hadn’t been asked about, consistently they responded: “help us ship products that represents who we are when we are at our best.”

• When we train managers, we train them to become the best self/leader they can be. But often times there is dissonance between the organizations and who the leaders are when they are at their best.

• Our organizational purpose in life has to be about serving others. It has to be about giving more than we get back.

• You need to take care of people so they can trust you. • Identity is developed by working through these questions: “What are our guiding

principles on what we stand for (what are our values)? Where do we want to go (what is our vision/purpose)?”

• They have a philosophy that “we are all on a journey through the jungle of life.” • Their philosophy instills a sense of “I am being prepared for something larger in

life, and we have to take advantage of all opportunities that are presented – we must have a growth mindset always!”

• Opportunities are not as random as we are all led to believe, especially if we have a growth mindset that all activities/opportunities are part of a larger plan.

• If we do not have a template for what we look like at our best as an organization, we will end up hiring the wrong people. Most organizations have about 10-20% employees that are a wrong fit, and they undermine the positive change process.

Slide 13: Dawn – 47 year employee who has seen a lot

• Fritz introduced a video about one the employees from this organization, Dawn, who has been through many cycles of change throughout her 47 years of employment.

• Activity: Video: Dawn, a Hastings employee • Debrief: Life is about energy, and it is about being energized when we come to

work. A person who is not engaged, do not process the company’s problems in their subconscious because they have checked-out. So the organization loses out on hundreds of people subconscious energy as a resource.

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Slide 14 Slide 15

Slide 14: (message from Dawn)

o Fritz shared an electronic message from Dawn as an example of the way that positive organizational change was affecting her.

o He mentioned that one of the highlights of working with this organization pointed back to the fact that the CEO is not college educated and is dyslexic, yet he is an outstanding leader.

[At this point, Fritz opened the session up for questions from the students.] Questions from students:

• Level 1 is about taking care of yourself. So how do you shift from stage 1 to serving others?

o Response: It can’t be about the individual, it has to be about something bigger that is compelling.

• So you’ve talked about working with organizations for 2 years. Do you ever work longer with organizations or for less than two years? Why?

o Response: Every meeting at this organization starts with a story about what we look like at our best. This moves from seeing toward feeling “what fit is.” It takes two years to move from “seeing” to “feeling.”

o The inverted pyramid shows that the most important and critical information/knowledge flow is with the employees that do the work, and manager need to recognize that.

Slide 15: Quick feedback on today

• This slide helped us wrap up the session. In a similar way to other sessions when we had guest presenters, we asked students to fill out their index cards providing information on what they learned, and what was most inspiring.

• We also reminded students to bring a hard copy of their map and at least 6 copies to share to class on Thursday.